1640 – The Treaty of Ripon is signed, restoring peace between Scotland and Charles I of England.

1774 – The first Continental Congress adjourns in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

1776 – Benjamin Franklin departed from America for France on a mission to seek French support for the American Revolution.

1795 – The French Directory, a five-man revolutionary government, is created.

1825 – The Erie Canal opens – passage from Albany, New York to Lake Erie.

1859 – The Royal Charter is wrecked on the coast of Anglesey, north Wales with 459 dead.

1860 – Meeting of Teano. Giuseppe Garibaldi, conqueror of the Kingdom of Two Sicilies, gives it to King Victor Emmanuel II of Italy.

1861 – The Pony Express officially ceased operations.

1863 – The Football Association is formed.

1881 – The Gunfight at the O.K. Corral takes place at Tombstone, Arizona.

1905 – Norway becomes independent from Sweden.

1912 – First Balkan War: The city of Thessaloniki is unified with Greece on the feast day of its patron Saint Demetrius. On the same day the Serbian troops captured Skopje.

1917 – World War I: Battle of Caporetto; Italy suffers a catastrophic defeat at the forces of Austria-Hungary and Germany.

1917 – World War I:Brazil declared in state of war with Central Powers.

1918 – Erich Ludendorff, quartermaster-general of the Imperial German Army, is dismissed by Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany for refusing to cooperate in peace negotiations.

1936 – The first electric generator at Hoover Dam went into full operation.

1940 – The P-51 Mustang makes its maiden flight.

1942 – World War II: In the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands during the Guadalcanal Campaign, one U.S. aircraft carrier, Hornet, was sunk and another aircraft carrier, Enterprise, is heavily damaged.

1943 – World War II: First flight of the Dornier Do 335 “Pfeil.”

1944 – World War II: The Battle of Leyte Gulf ends.

1947 – The Maharaja of Kashmir agrees to allow his kingdom to join India.

1947 – The British Military Occupation ends in Iraq.

1948 – Killer smog settles into Donora, Pennsylvania.

1951 – Boxer Joe Louis comes out of retirement to fight Rocky Marciano. However, Marciano would win the fight in eight rounds.

1954 – Trieste return to Italy.

1955 – After the last Allied troops have left the country and following the provisions of the Austrian Independence Treaty, Austria declares permanent neutrality.

1958 – Pan American Airways makes the first commercial flight of the Boeing 707 from New York City to Paris, France.

1964 – Eric Edgar Cooke becomes last person in Western Australia to be executed.

1965 – The Beatles are appointed Members of the Order of the British Empire (MBEs).

1977 – The last natural case of smallpox was discovered in Merca district, Somalia. The WHO and the CDC consider this date the anniversary of the eradication of smallpox, the most spectacular success of vaccination.

1978 – Independent Counsel Act is signed into law.

1979 – Park Chung-hee, President of South Korea is assassinated by KCIA head Kim Jae-kyu. Choi Kyu-ha becomes the acting President; Kim is executed the following May.

1984 – “Baby Fae” receives a heart transplant from a baboon.

1992 – The command and control system of the London Ambulance Service fails catastrophically.

1992 – The Charlottetown Accord fails to win majority support in a Canada-wide referendum.

1999 – Britain’s House of Lords votes to end the right of hereditary peers to vote in Britain’s upper chamber of Parliament.

2000 – Laurent Gbagbo takes over as president of Côte d’Ivoire following a popular uprising against President Robert Guéï.

2001 – The United States passes the USA PATRIOT Act into law.

2002 – Moscow Theatre Siege: Approximately 50 Chechen rebels and 150 hostages die when Russian Spetsnaz storm a theater building in Moscow, which had been occupied by the rebels during a musical performance three days before.